Shades Of Michelangelo
by PrincessCadence2012
Summary: When a Beautiful art Teacher Comes in to the lives of Mikey and Karai, the hope she brings might not only change their destinies but those of their fathers as well. Set during Season Two of the 2012 series. Romance in some following chapters. Will be AU as story continues.
1. Chapter 1

Shades of Michelangelo: Part one.

 _authors notes: got the idea for this from the song of the same name and some ideas I've seen about mike being an artist. Also just my idea on an AU where Splinter and Shredder have a reason to reconcile .. but then danger comes from another source.  
Any how hope you like this. Don't own the song don't own the characters.. this is fan fiction written purely for the sake of my sick amusement._

PC 2012

"-With a stroke of love, on the canvas of my soul. I'm painting a perfect world with shades of Michelangelo. Its a promise made, to every heart that knows. We can live in a perfect world, with shades of Michelangelo." - Belinda Carlisle

She knew something was strange when she heard the noise out side of her house and caught a whiff of paint from her own open window.

It was well past four am in the morning and all of her own work was well on its way to drying for the night. There was no way that the paint smell could be coming from inside her house so there was only one other explanation. Someone had to be doing some kind of painting out side of her house.  
One set of robe, flash light and slippers later and she was heading down the steps of her town house to check the back porch.

She stepped quietly out and stared at the two mostly silent forms there. She turned and looked to see what they were doing and that is what caught her eye. She clicked on the flash light and both of the forms froze.

"That's really great work, " she smiled at them.  
"awww man," The dark haired boy said and held up his spray paint can guiltily.

The other boy, now that she was getting a good look at him was extraordinary to say the very least, and was also holding a spray paint can.

"Awww crud," he sighed, "Sensei's gonna kill me."

The woman pulled her robe closer and stepped down the steps.

"Please don't be scared, "She smiled, "I smelled paint and came to see what was going on."

The dark haired boy looked really embarrassed, "We're really sorry Mam, we ahh.. didn't think any one lived in this town house any more.. so were..."

That's when Casey Jones noticed that the woman wasn't paying attention to him any more but to the Graffiti that he had put on the side of her once clean town house.

"this is really nice," She smiled again, "I'll tell you what.. I'll give you 50.00 each to finish this tomorrow afternoon after school. How's that grab you?"

She turned and both boys were staring at her totally dumfounded.

That was when it clicked with Casey that he knew this nice lady from some place. She was one of his teachers.

"Your Miss Kincaid," He pointed at her, "The new art teacher at school."

She turned back to him, "I am."

Then she grinned, "What happened to, "art is for sissies" Mr. Jones?"

"Well... I mean, " he stammered, "art IS for sissies. Stuck up museums, snobs that tell you only what they think is good counts... that kinda stuff "  
"oh I see," She nodded, "So no one ever told you this was art too son ?"  
"No," both boys answered in unison.

"Well it is, " She told them directly, "and I pay for good art. And I will pay you 50.00 each like I said to come finish this. Right now though .. its freezing cold. And I know the Krylon wont stick as well. So why don't you boys come in and have some hot coco. Then tomorrow you can come back when its nice and hot and take care of this."  
"Seriously?" the second boy added, "Your just gonna .. like.. let us into your house with out saying anything nasty?"

She shook her head, "young man. This world is too full of insanity and insensitivity for me to add to it. I am not going to knock two up and coming art geniuses just because the world at large says I should."

The art teacher turned and headed back up the steps, "So do want that hot coco or not?"

Casey and Mike nearly trampled each other getting up the steps and into the young teachers kitchen.

A few moments later they were at her table with a plate of cookies and a large mug of coco each. Neither of them paying any attention to it because they were both too busy staring at the works of art all around them.

"Wow," Casey twisted his head to get a look at more in the other room, "Miss Kincaid I can see why they wanted you to be our new art teacher. This stuff is amazing!"

Mike was doing his best to get in everything too, "He's right Mam , this is all so incredible. "  
"Well thank you boys," She grinned, "But anyone can become an artist. It just takes time and dedication. You two boys seem to be well on your way Casey and...?"

Mike blushed, "Sorry mam, My name is Mike."

She nodded, "Well if you boys would like to, I can give you some more art lessons. You can pay for them by doing yard work and things. if your interested."

Casey proceeded to look away, "Id love to Miss Kincaid but I don't know if I could manage with hockey practice and school."

The teacher shrugged, "Well then you will just have to pay more attention in school, but don't worry, "She winked, "Your secret is safe with me."

She then turned and looked at Mikey, "And what about you Mike? Would you like to take some painting lessons?"  
"WOULD I!" he nearly yelled.

Then proceeded to launch him self across the table and hug her, then got serious again and let go.

"umm.. I will have to get permission from my father though," He told her, "If he says its ok then I will 100% want to come and study art with you."

"That's good that you are respectful to your family that way young man," and she turned to Casey, "and that you want to take care of your team like that." Then turned back to mike, "But that will be fine young man. I can even meet with your father if you like and tell him some about what I will be teaching you."  
"that would be great miss Kincaid!" mike hugged her again, "I bet he will just love you too!"  
She laughed, "Ok .. well its almost five am.. and I to teach tomorrow and Casey has class. So you guys had better finish your drinks and hit the road. "

The laughed for a few more moments and then finished up the coco.

as they were about to leave she motioned them back.

"hey guys I forgot to give you your payment for the mural."

They stopped in their tracks and looked at her as she went back up into the house and reappeared with a back pack and wallet.  
"Here you go, " She handed one 50.00 bill to Casey and one to mike. "Come back this afternoon and finish this up. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Oh and you can leave your paint here if you like. I promise to take very good care of it."

The boys stopped and looked at each other again and then turned and smiled up at the pretty young art teacher.

"Thank you!" Mike told her and then ran up the steps and hugged her again, "We'll see in the afternoon!"

She hugged him back and then both boys took off and she waved.

A few moments later they were down the nearest man hole and Casey stopped and looked at Mike.

"What are you going to tell Splinter?" he asked the turtle in the orange mask.

Mike looked down for a moment and then back at Casey, "I'm going to tell him the truth Casey. I really want to take these art lessons from Miss Kincaid. The only way I'm going to get to do that is if I'm honest with sensei."

Casey looked thoughtful for a second, "Yah I guess that makes sense. Let me come with you and I'll help convince Splinter."

"Thanks man," Mike smiled back and they headed off to the lair.

About half an hour later:

Splinter was staring down at the 50.00 bill that his youngest son had just handed him and was trying to make sense out of the confused and hastily told story that the little turtle had just blurted out.

"Can you repeat that Michelangelo, " he saw Mike open his mouth and take a deep breath, "SLOWLY."

Mike visibly deflated for a second and then he took another breath and began again.

"So Casey and I were doing a painting on what we thought was an empty town house," he paused and Splinter nodded, "Cus like if someone moved in they'd probably just paint over it. Well it turns out it wasn't empty."  
"Yah," Casey added, "Someone lives there now."

Mike nodded, "A REALLY pretty lady who's an art teacher. Well she came out and saw our picture. She said she would pay us if we finished it for her and then offered to teach me to paint. To teach me like a real art teacher."  
"Then as we were leaving," Casey chimed in, "She came out and paid us to finish the painting, Just like she promised."

"So we came back here because I want to ask, " Mike got his puppy dog eyes, "Can I PLEASE take art lessons with her sensei!? PLEASE?"

By this point all of the other turtles were gathered around staring at Mike and Casey and boggling over the story that the two boys had just rapidly told twice.  
Splinter seemed to be considering the situation.

In the mean time, Raph made a face and looked at his lil brother.

"Why do you want to study painting any how ?" He shook his head, "What point does it have that someone painted, or did art? That's not going to help us with our training or.."

That was when Raph noticed the VERY large glare he was getting from Splinter.

"Art is very important Raphael," Splinter frowned, "History is recorded in it. The great deeds of the past. The hope for the future is also expressed in art."

Leo blinked at Splinter, "So you don't think Mikey taking art lessons is a bad idea? Even with a stranger?"  
Donnie nodded, "Yah we don't know this lady very much, she could be someone working for the Shredder or the Krang."

"She's not," Casey told them, "She's the art teacher that just started at my and April's school. Her name is Miss Kincaid."

"Please Sensei?" Mike begged again, "I really want to learn to do this. I really wanna see if I can learn to paint the same way this nice lady paints. Please? She said you can come meet her."  
Splinter looked at Mike, "I will meditate on this and consider it during the day my son. I do think however, this would be a good thing for you Michelangelo. Learning to paint will help you learn to focus in a way that I may not be able to teach."  
"So your going to let him?" Leo asked, "Seriously?"  
"I am going to consider it while I meditate Leonardo," Splinter replied, "But I think it might be a good thing if ALL of you were to learn some painting with this young woman if she can be trusted. "

Mike suddenly looked very smug and the other boys got mildly horrified looks on their faces.  
"I will let you know this afternoon when the time comes for Michelangelo and Casey to return to work on the mural for the young lady."

"Hai sensei," All for said in unison.

"in the mean time, " Splinter reached out and returned the money to Mike, "I believe this is yours Michelangelo."

"Yer letting him KEEP it?" Raph gapped.

Splinter proceeded to smirk, "Well if he decides to study art he will need some decent supplies. "

All the other guys groaned and Mike beamed, pretty certain that by the end of the afternoon, he was going to be an official art student.

 _Post chap notes: That's all for now! hope you like! more to come soon! PC._


	2. Chapter 2

Shades Of Michelangelo : part 2

 _Authors notes: Second chapter.. Thanks for the two awesome reviews Hope that the story lives up to your expectations as it continues. This chapter and the story at large takes place before Karai finds out Oroko Saki isn't her blood father. I'll get to that in later chapters :D_

 _Thanx_

 _PC_

"-A seed of hope, grows in my garden. I feel the earth beneath my feet. Running through my mind, are dreams of a future where all of this world lives in harmony." - Belinda Carlisle

She'd come here because they had finally ran out of decent matcha. They had brought a lot with them when they left Japan but both of them were really fond of it and now it was gone.

After a bit of digging on the web Karai had learned that the shop called Teavana sold really good teas from all over the world. The matcha they sold seemed to have an excellent recommendation. So she had taken five minutes away from the chaos to come out here and buy some.

She was standing in line behind a lady with what Karai had to call extremely pretty hair. A lustrous brown braid that nearly reached her knees. Though while beautiful the lady was joking and chatting with the owner of the store and was basically taking forever.

Karai let out a big sigh and the lady glanced behind her and realized what was going on.

"Oh Sweetheart I'm sorry," She smiled sheepishly, "I'll finish up."

She watched as the lady bought her own box of matcha and several other kinds of teas as well as a bottle of honey and big bag of the sugar. Thanked the attendant and put her wallet back into her bag.  
Karai heard something go thump but wasn't paying much attention.

The lady left and then Karai moved up to pay for her own tea and honey. It only took a few moments and when she turned around her foot hit something on the ground.

She looked down and saw a spiral bound note book with " Come to the Art Side. We have Copics." written on the front in neon pink.

It must have fallen out of the lady's bag when she was paying. With such a silly pop culture reference on the front Karai had to pick it up and look at it.

She walked out of the tea store and into the city while flipping it open. That was when she realized what it was. It wasn't a simple note book. It turned out to be a sketch book.

The drawing she was looking at now was a very detailed one of a spiral galaxy floating in space done in pencil.

Karai stopped and continued to flip through the book and found more and more drawings. A Scene from that old original star wars movie perfectly drawn. Another of cloud city from the second movie sitting in cloud banks in front of a sunset. The next page had a more detailed drawing of the city its self. The next drawing was of dragons protecting nests and swooping from a clear sky to skim a glass calm ocean. More and more pages and more and more incredible sketches.

Now she was truly fascinated. Apparently there were many more levels to the woman from the tea shop than a simple overly cheerful tea junky.

Karai decided she was going to find this lady later and return her sketch book and maybe find out a bit more about her. For now however it was time to return to her father with the tea.

Several Hours Later At the town house.:

Casey was sitting on the steps waiting for Mike to show up before he knocked. Mainly because with out Mike he didn't think he had the confidence to go up there and face this very nice teacher. After all she was still a teacher and they were intimidating even on the best of days.  
He was about three shades from going to hunt the little turtle down when Mike suddenly popped out from behind the steps.

"Casey! My man!" He beamed, "Ready to finish Miss Kincaid's mural?"

Casey grinned at him, "Yah. Though for a while there I was wondering if we dreamed all of this the other night. It just seemed to good to be true."  
"Have faith Casey," Splinter appeared behind Mike, "I believe this is something that will be good for Michelangelo. I am hoping that our trust is not miss placed."  
Casey rubbed the back of his head, "I don't think so Sensei. I asked the office at school about her today. Apparently she really is nothing but a great artist from Kentucky."

"We will see," He turned to Mikey, "My son if you would be so kind as to go and knock?"

Mike beamed again and almost bounced up the steps to knock on the door. Before he could get to it though it opened and revealed Miss Kincaid to the warm afternoon light.

She had a soft pretty round face, with big blue gray eyes and a warm smile. Her hair was very long and held back behind a brown head band with a braid that came almost to her knees. She was a tiny bit heavier set than was fashionable, but the soft curves only added to her gentle beauty.

"hello there," She smiled at them from her door way, "Come on in boys I have your paint right inside here."

She stopped and noticed Splinter, looked at him for a few moments and then smiled again.

"You must be Mike's father?" She asked.

When Splinter nodded she stepped further out onto the porch and did the absolute last thing he was expecting.

She bowed in the proper manner and angle for meeting someone of importance in Japanese culture and said to him, " _Oai dekite kouei desu."_

All three of their mouths dropped open and it took about thirty seconds for them to recover.

Mike predictably was the first to recover. Upon recovering he did the most Mike thing that he could have done. He tossed his arms around her and hugged her. Then proceeded to blurt very loudly.

"YOU SPEAK JAPANSE!?"

She smiled and hugged Mike back, "Well you do have to take a language in art school, So yah. I actually suck at it, but when I saw your father's Kimono I dredged up what I knew because I wanted to be as respectful to him as possible. I'll make a fool of my self if I try to say too much."

Casey couldn't help but smile at all of this and turned and looked to see that even Splinter, stoic serious Sensei Splinter, had a small smile on his face.

"Well then," He cleared his throat, "We need to discuss, I believe, possible art lessons for Michelangelo?"  
She managed to pry the affectionate turtle loose, "Of course Sir. Let me get the boys paint so they can work on my mural and us Old people will go and have a conversation about it."

She vanished into the house for a few moments and then returned with a very high tech looking paint tray holding the boys spray cans, along with several others of different colors added.

"I thought you boys would like to use some of mine, " She told them, "I don't do much spray painting so you can put them to good use."

The boys beamed at her and took the paint, then took off around to her wall that they had been painting last night. Splinter watched her smile after them with a slightly wistful look.

Something about this young teacher suddenly reminded the rat sensei of an old quote

 _"The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged are the most wise. All because they don't want people to suffer as they have."_

He had to wonder if at some point some person had told her the opposite of what she told the boys. Of what he had told Michelangelo, about art mattering.

Splinter was snapped out of his thoughts when the woman finally wiped at her eyes and turned to him.

"So," She cleared her throat, "Your Mike's father? You must be so proud, he's such a good boy. "  
"I am," Splinter smiled back, " I want to make sure he has what he needs to be happy. I wish that for him and all of his brothers."

"Well" She grinned, "I have a sneaking suspicion I know what you are going to ask. So why don't you come on in and we can talk about it. "

Splinter bowed politely, "That would be very nice."  
He followed the young teacher into her home and looked around. Michelangelo and Casey had been right. The home was full of fantastic works of art of all different kinds.

He looked into what had to be the Woman's studio and saw a very beautiful painting of a scene from an old sic fi movie he knew and liked. A city floating in sky surrounded by giant banks of clouds. All set a blaze by a fiery sunset in the back ground.

He might just have to have that one for the lair, he thought as he turned and followed her into the rest of the house.

"So, " She turned to face him with what looked like a Jar of matcha in hand, "Do you like honey or sugar?"

About two hours later:

It had taken Karai pretty much all day to track down the address on the back of the sketch book shed found.

But now she perched on the building opposite the town house and watched. The down stairs windows to one of the rooms were open and light streamed out into the gathering darkness.

By that the ninja girl could see something fascinating. The woman was in fact an artist.

She was working on a painting at the moment that held Karai's attention because of all the riotous color. It was utterly captivating. Thinking that this lovely young woman had made it with her own slender hands made it that much more fascinating to the girl.

So now Karai sat on the ledge across the way and attempted to work up the courage to go and talk to the woman. She was at a loss when she heard a soft sound behind her.

"So this is where you vanished too," Came the deep voice.

"I'm sorry father, " She told him honestly, "But I truly just wanted to see more about the person that this belonged to."

She turned and handed him the sketch book.

The reaction she got was NOT what she was expecting. His eyes widened and he took the book and flipped through it him self.

"You have never told me art interested you My Daughter," Her Father told her.

"No father," Karai said back, "It never seemed to be important to me. I have always liked it but, " She sighed, "I had my training and I have to help you. There was never any time for...art."

"That is ridiculous daughter," He said sharply.  
"I kn..." she started.

"There is _always_ time for art," he told her in a slightly softer voice, " How would we know the past of our clan, our culture with out art? It is very important. I apologize if I never made that clear to you in your life."  
Now she turned to stare up at her father as he looked down at the woman in the studio. He watched for a few moments more and then handed the sketch book back to Karai.

"Tomorrow you will return this book to the Young woman, " He told her matter of factly, "If you wish to learn more about art we may have found you a teacher."  
Karai took the book back and nodded slightly numbly. This was not how she expected this conversation to go, and she had to admit yet again her father's ability to surprise her had caught her off guard.

Whatever happened it was going to be quite the experience for everyone concerned.

 _post chap notes: Ok.. so I really wanted to play up that Shredder and Splinter were actually a lot a like. They'd been raised by the same person so they are going to share similar traits. I decided that a love of art is one of them. More to come_

 _PC._


	3. Chapter 3

Shades Of Michelangelo : Part 3

 _Thanks again for the reviews. So getting more into the meat of the story here. More of a description of Miss Kincaid, her home and her art. hope you all enjoy!_

 _Thax_

 _PC_

"A still life portrait, A view from my window. Touched by an innocence ... now fading away.." - Belinda Carlisle

She stood on the front porch about to have a panic attack. Monsters, mutants, crazy robots, nut jobs of all kind didn't intimidate the girl. But the thought of talking to one simple art teacher had Karai ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED.

There was a real chance that the woman would become angry because she hadn't returned the sketch book sooner. Karai was really hoping though that the woman would in fact be as nice as she had seemed when the two of them had met at the tea store. There she had pretty much embodied kindness and positivity, so the ninja girl held out the hope that this was how the woman really behaved and not just that she had been being polite.

She took a deep breath, swallowed and ran the bell.

"Just a minute!" came a reply in a soft musical voice, "I'm eyeball deep in paint!"

It was Saturday and so the young woman, who turned out to in fact be an art teacher, had no classes that day. So she was free to spend it pursuing her own art at her town house in the Village.

Karai had to smile at that as she thought of her in that studio she had watched from above a few days ago. She would have come that very next day, but her father being who he was, insisted to find out some more information on the woman. When she really did turn out to simply be an artist from somewhere in one of the lower United states called Kentucky, then the final go ahead to contact her had been made.

Karai had ditched her leather jacket with the spikes, for a simple black hoodie and blue jeans, and hoped that she looked normal enough to not scare the nice lady.

She heard her at last approach and drew up her courage.

The door opened and the woman smiled out at her, "Hello?" She blinked, "OH! your the young lady from Teavana. How can I help you honey?" She smiled.

Karai almost melted. She was _that nice_ and she was _beautiful_. She then felt her self blush as she held out the sketch book to the lady.

"Umm Hi," She tried to smile back, "you dropped this the other day and I wanted to bring it back to you."  
The woman instantly brightened, "You found my sketch book!"

She lovingly took it out of Karai's hands and hugged it to her chest, " I thought I lost this thing for ever! Thank you SOOO MUCH. You are a very good young lady for bringing this back to me Miss?"

"Ahh Karai," Karai blushed, " Karai Oroko."

The woman's eyebrows shot up, "Oh! That's a lovely name. Would you like to come in and have some tea Miss Oroko?"  
Karai bit her lip and nodded, "that would be wonderful, Thank you!"

"Your very welcome young lady," She smiled more, "Its the least I can do since you went to all the trouble to bring this back to me."

She turned and lead the way back into the house, "Give me a second to ditch the manky art apron, then I'll make us some matcha." She stopped, "Umm do you like matcha? I have other kinds."

"Oh no," Karai told her back, "that would be lovely. My father and I drink a lot of that."

"Wonderful," She motioned, "Come on this way then."

Karai followed her and walked into a house unlike any she had ever seen before.

It was very American, but totally unique from the ones she'd seen. It was very neat and clean. With soft comfortable furniture that looked old and well loved, but well cared for. There were two book shelves, stuffed full of novels and art books as well as several toys and dolls there.

Off to one side was the woman's studio where she was in the process of tossing the paint splattered apron she had on. Down the other hall was what looked like a small tidy kitchen and down the other hall a couple of bed rooms and bath room.

At various places all over the house were paintings, all of them different and all of them full of color life and movement.

"Wow," She stopped to look at one that was propped up on the back of the couch. The one of the dragons that she'd seen the sketch for.

The young woman reappeared and smiled, "oh you like that one? Its the first one that I did when I moved up here. Its one of my favorites."

Karai nodded and then followed the woman down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Have a seat," She pointed to the small table, " Do you like honey or sugar in your tea darlin'?"  
Karai was staring at a cookie jar that looked like an owl when it finally occurred to her that the lady was talking.  
"Umm I'm sorry," She turned back to her, "Honey please."

The woman smiled, "If you want a cookie help your self miss Oroko, "

Karai blinked and turned back to the smiling woman, "ahh no its just, I've never seen a cookie jar that looked like an owl. Its... cute."

The woman laughed, "You will find this house full of things like that. I wasn't able to bring my whole collection with me from home but I love cute stuff like that."

Karai nodded and finally sat down at the table and watched the woman go about making the tea. She stopped and laughed and turned to Karai.

"I just realized something I haven't told you my name at all have I?" She giggled.

Karai thought about that for a moment or two and then realized it was in fact true, but that she had been so fascinated by everything and so awe struck that it hadn't even bothered her.

"No," karai replied, "I don't think you did."

The woman giggled again ," I'm So sorry. My name is Rose. " She paused and held out her hand for karai to shake, "Rose Kincaid and its lovely to meet you again."

Ok even her name was beautiful and soft.

For a few seconds Karai even considered pinching her self to see if this was all a dream or not. Then the woman saved her the trouble and came over to the table with the tea.

"I hope its not to sweet," She sat down and took a sip of her's, "I have a giant sweet tooth so I add a little extra sometimes. I tried to tone it down this time."

Karai took a sip, then took a gulp. Then looked up and blushed yet again.

"Sorry," She replied to Miss Kincaid, "It is delicious, totally perfect. You make excellent matcha."

"Oh thank you," The woman replied back warmly, "I don't think I can ever get it as perfect as some of the professionals, but I try."  
"Oh no," Karai assured her, "its as good as some of the tea houses back home! I..."

Karai trailed off and bit her lip.

"What honey?" The kind young teacher asked.

"Well..." Karai bit her lip and tried again, "I was just thinking that my father would love this..."

"But?" She prompted.

"But I don't know if I can get him to come and see you because he's ummm... self conscious..."

The woman seemed to think about that for a few moments. Staring into her tea intently as if figuring something out.

"Was he a solider?" She asked finally, "Your father I mean."

"Ummmm..." Karai shook her head.

"Oh well its just from the way you were talking," She motioned with her head, "He sounds like some of the soldiers I've done paintings of at VA as therapy."

"How so?"

Miss Kincaid sat her tea on the table and motioned, "Come here and I'll show you."

She got up and headed for the other part of the house. Karai sat there for a second and then got up and followed her.

Where she was going turned out to be her studio. What she was doing was pulling out a drawer full of small note book sized paintings. Each one was of a man, each of them full of the same color and life that all of her paintings were. Each one was _stunning_.

This was because of their unusual subject matter. Everyone of the men in the paintings was horridly scarred. As karai looked through them she saw one man with slashes across his face, one man burned, one man missing an eye, and many many others. Yet despite all of this, even because of it, each of the paintings was more beautiful than the last. Because even though each of the men were horridly scarred, each of them wore warm loving expressions and bright smiles.

"This is what I meant," Miss Kincaid told her quietly, "each of my soldiers here hated how they looked. I wanted all of them to see that the beauty comes from their hearts and the scars, only make them more unique. Not disfigured."

"You should paint my father," Karai suddenly blurted out, "You should do this for him."

"He wasn't a solider?" The teacher asked.

"No but he was a hero all the same," Karai turned and looked at her, "He ... got his scars saving my life. So he will always be my hero."

The teacher thought for a moment and then nodded, "Well if you want me to meet him I will most certainly do that if he agrees. Now I have something id like to ask you."

"Yes mam?" Karai turned away from the paintings and looked at her.

"Would you like to learn to paint?" She motioned to the paintings, "I have another student I will be taking on starting Monday. His lessons are going to be private because he's pretty shy. But I have extra time on the weekends if you would like to learn."

Karai smiled and lost all composure tossing her arms around the young Teacher, "YES! that's actually what I came here to ask you about to day, If you could teach me art. I can pay you if you want me to."

"I would love to do that honey," Miss Kincaid told her back, "And don't worry about the money thing. If you insist on paying me we can work something out. You can help me with the house hold chores or grading papers or something." She winked.

Karai had to laugh at that, "Thank you Miss Kincaid. You are absolutely wonderful."

The teacher smiled back at her again, "My Pleasure Miss Karai. Now lets go finish our tea and I'll make you a list of what you need."

Monday Afternoon:

Mikey stood on the porch outside Miss Kincaid's house and felt like he was about to jump right out of his shell. This was the most nervous he'd been in a very long time. Ever really.

But here he was none the less with a bag full of all his new art supplies, and a big smile. Just ready to jump feet first into learning all about painting with his new friend.

He finally worked up the courage to knock and stood there literally bouncing with excitement, as he waited.

It only took a few moments for the teacher to come to the door and greet him.

"Michelangelo!" She exclaimed and then hugged him, "How's my favorite turtle in the whole world?"

Mikey blushed, eating all of this attention up.

"I'm good Miss Kincaid," He smiled up at her, "I got my paint and brushes you said and I'm ALLLLLLL ready to start painting!"

"Oh, " She grinned down at him, "Jumping right in I see. " She nodded, "Good that's the kind of enthusiasm I love to see in young people that study art. Come on in and we can get started."

Mike followed her into the house and took this chance to look around. It totally had a woman's touch to it. The place seemed softer and more welcoming than some of the other places he'd been in his life. He wanted to learn to start painting asap, but he also found a big part of him wanted to climb up on that squishy looking sofa and just go into a coma because it looked that comfy.

He turned away from that and spotted her bed room a bit further down. Knowing that he was going to get into trouble and that he really shouldn't, he still went down there and looked any how.  
Of course more photos and paintings, that was to be expected. The giant soft bed there looked like something any sane person would enjoy sleeping on. There was a hand held media player and some movies scattered across it, along with some books.

But what really got his attention was the doll collection. Each one looking like it had just came out of the box. Perfect, and beautiful.

Now he did have to sit down and stare because this had him amazed. Not only was Miss Kincaid a incredible artist, but she was apparently a lovely person as well.

He was sitting on the side of the bed staring at the dolls when She finally appeared to locate him.

"Michelangelo..." She trailed off and noticed him staring, and then blushed, "I'm sorry I should have kept this room closed off." She looked off, "I know its silly and most people don't want to have my doll collection shoved in their faces."

Mikey blinked and shook his head, "Oh no mam! You didn't shove it in my face. I came in here being nosy and looking around. Then I couldn't leave because they were so amazing! They are beautiful! "

"You think so?" She asked, the blush in her cheeks fading some, "I know its strange, grown people shouldn't collect dolls."

"Who says?" Mike demanded, "You ARE grown, that means you get to do what ever you like."

She grinned back at him," Well I cant argue with that logic can I?"

He smiled back, " Maybe you can do a painting of some of them sometime?"  
"That's a thought," She told him, "now lets get you in here and get you set up ok?  
We'll have you painting by the end of the night."

Mikey smiled and got up to follow her back to the studio.

"So what do I need to know," He rattled off, "Cus I read up on color theory, Types of paint, acrylic mediums, brushes, types of brushes, brush cleaner, brush brands, Canvas, canvas types, gesso ..."

She laughed and held up her hand, "Well we will get to all of that in time. Though a lot of color theory I imagine you already know. "

"Right," Mikey nodded, "Complimentary, Contrasting, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary."

She stopped and stared at Mikey for about ten seconds, "You learned all of that in a week end?"

He nodded and smiled back at her.

"my goodness you must have a brain the size of a basket ball stuffed into that adorable head."

Mikey giggled about that then replied, "Well no. Donnie is the brains. But this just really caught my attention. Once I read a little bit I really liked it so I just kept on reading."

"Really?" She asked, "well that's a sign of brains too if you ask me. You just have a different type of intelligence than your brother. But it does not make you any less smart than him. You just look at the world a different way."

"Really?" He looked at her wide eyed, " Everyone says I'm not that smart, but its just that things have to interest me before I want to study them."

She smiled very broadly at this and nodded, "That's usually how it works for artists young man. We are born with our brains wired to see and do art, make images. We learn visually. Math and Science, well creative on their own, aren't our type of creativity. " She grinned a bit, "did you know I got straight C's in math my whole life? My father was a tool and dye engineer and I cant do algebra to save my life?"

Mikey nodded, "Yah Donnie's got the big brain for math and stuff. But it really just doesn't seem to be something that I understand, well not most of it. Some of it makes sense."

"Well you will learn in time," She replied, "I eventually found some I was able to like enough to learn. It all just takes us finding out who we are and using that to our advantage."

Mikey grinned, "You sound like sensei, you know my father? Splinter? He says that kind of thing a lot."

"Well he's a good person Michelangelo, " Her face softened a bit, " He wants you to do what makes you happy. I have another young girl that I'm going to be teaching and her father told her the same thing. So I think you two will become great artists."

Mike thought for a second, "I don't really wanna become "Great" if that's ok with you Miss Kincaid.. I just...I just wanna make art."

She came over and hugged him very hard, "Mike ... That is HOW you become a great artist. That kinda will you have there.. is what drove everyone from Van Gogh to Jackson Pollock. When you discover what kind of art you like best, I know you will be something amazing!"

Mike hugged her back," Thank you Miss Kincaid."

She pulled away and motioned with her hand, "Well come on then lets go hit the studio and get started. Depending on what you want to do, I might just have you painting by the end of the night."


End file.
